“Free solo” mountaineer Alex Honnold has seen the effects of climate change firsthand throughout his career. He has seen glaciers and ice melt in Patagonia and Alaska. That inspired him to start the Honnold Foundation and invest in community-based solar energy projects.
In 2023, world-famous mountaineers Alex Honnold (of “Free Solo” fame) and Tommy Caldwell set out to climb Devil’s Thumb, a dangerous mountain in southeastern Alaska.
Before climbing, Honnold and Caldwell hiked to the base of the mountain and tripped over a pile of rocks. The path didn’t always seem so dangerous.
“What used to be a relatively calm snowfield has turned into melting glacier and exposed rock,” Honnold, 39, says in a new documentary about the trip, “The Devil’s Climb.”
Honnold climbing Devil’s Thumb. National Geographic/Renan Ozturk
Honnold told Business Insider that mountains have changed a lot over the past decade, making it more difficult to plan a climb.
“Many of the photos are from 2014 or 2016, and in just seven or eight years, the mountain has melted a lot,” he says. The topography was particularly different on the northwest flank. “It changed our climbing experience because it was a different mountain.”
Throughout his climbing career, Honnold has witnessed similarly drastic environmental changes. This inspired him to found the Honnold Foundation in 2012, a nonprofit organization that builds renewable energy resources around the world.
“It becomes easier to talk to people about climate change because you can see it with your own eyes,” he said.
He witnessed a ‘dramatic’ change in the landscape while climbing
Honnold and Caldwell had previously planned to go ice climbing in Patagonia, Argentina. However, upon arriving in the area, they learned that an ice feature had collapsed the previous year.
“It just disappeared and will probably never form again,” Honnold said, noting that it takes hundreds of years for snow to compact and return to a wall of ice.
Aerial view of Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell climbing Devil’s Thumb. National Geographic/Matt Pycroft
In the same area, he said he saw a glacial lake “doubling in distance” due to retreating glaciers. “Each year, the glaciers move more and more, and the way we hike into the mountains changes,” he says. “It’s really dramatic.”
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His foundation focuses on the community
In 2023, the Honnold Foundation supported the launch of Puerto Rico’s first community-driven microgrid project. Consisting of rooftop solar panels, it was intended as a solution to the island’s power shortage after Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Honnold said the foundation’s projects focus on supporting local communities because “there’s no real point in solving environmental problems unless we also improve human living conditions.”
The organization has also installed solar panels in U.S. cities such as Detroit and Memphis to help families lower their electricity bills.
He mentions climate change at corporate events
In a recent interview on the Rich Roll podcast, adventure journalist Adam Skolnick said Honnold addressed the effects of climate change and raised funds for his foundation by hosting mountaineering and outdoor events with top business leaders. He shared anecdotes about how he collects.
Mr. Skolnick said Mr. Honnold would “scold them about environmental issues and implore them to do good and behave better” before taking them on field trips.
Although he rarely leads events like this, Honnold said the topic of climate change has come up often during his career “because as a mountaineer I look at climate change very keenly.”
“I raise money for the foundation in every way I can,” Honnold said. “We are happy to accept money from anyone to support community solar power around the world.”
“The Devil’s Crime” will premiere on National Geographic on October 17th at 9pm EST and stream the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
